Islands` Mystique A Watery Wonder

November 1, 1987|By WILLIAM A. DAVIS, The Boston Globe

Islands.

Their fascination is matched only by mountaintops, but islands seem to me far more powerful, or at least more lasting. Few of us would want to live permanently on a mountain peak, but several million people happily inhabit relatively small islands, and probably as least as many wish that they did.

There is an island mystique. There are island cultures and subcultures, island brokers (they sell -- and frequently resell -- islands to the island- infatuated), island literature and, most definitely, island mania. I confess to a relatively mild, but certainly incurable, case of the latter.

Some people can really only relax on an island, usually a particular island with deep personal associations. Many look to islands for the quick fix of serenity and tranquility that will enable them, after only a few days, to return to the workaday mainland world, renewed and recharged. For others, the dream of their life is to live on island, preferably their own, and it often doesn`t much matter how big or where located.

``The thought of owning an island is perhaps the most romantic concept left to humankind in the 20th century,`` writes Caskie Stinnett in One Man`s Island, a collection of essays about life on a small offshore Maine island. ``On an island the corrosion of progress is as great as the owner will tolerate and no greater. That fragment of land, floating in the sea, offers such rare prizes as remoteness, privacy, silence, and above all the opportunity to create a small world of one`s own.``

It is characteristic of islands, and the key to their special appeal, that each is unique, different even from its neighbors within sight in the same archipelago. There are about 120,000 charted islands in U.S. inland and offshore waters alone, more than 500,000 scattered over the globe, each a world unto itself and collectively making up an insular Milky Way.

Islandophiles divide themselves roughly into two groups -- those who yearn exclusively for lush tropical islands of the Tahitian/Caribbean variety, and those who don`t. I am one whose insular yearnings are unshaded by palm trees, and favor northern islands, where the air is brisk and bracing, the surrounding waters chilly and the sound of the foghorn frequent. Don`t ask me why: Island mania, like love, defies rational analysis.

Among my favorite islands -- none of which are, alas, for sale -- are Monhegan, off the coast of Maine; the Shetlands, north of Scotland; and the Aland Islands, in the Baltic between Finland and Sweden. All are thoroughly northern, but also very distinctive.

Rugged, beautiful Monhegan -- accessible from Boothbay Harbor in summer, Port Clyde year-round -- has made few concessions to modernity, and lacks both roads and electricity, remaining an old-fashioned and very serene place.

The Shetlands, which are as close to the edge of the world as it is possible to get on a round planet, have a wet, windy and invigorating climate, are dotted with prehistoric ruins (I like to fantasize that their Stone Age builders all emigrated to tropical islands in sealskin canoes) and inhabited by mild-mannered, friendly descendents of bloodthirsty Vikings.

The Alands are green and pleasant, an ideal cruising ground for yachtsmen who flock to them each summer and with a magnificent maritime tradition: The islands were home for the last commercial long-haul windjammer fleet (it carried grain from Australia to Europe up to World War II) of which one awesome four-master still survives.

Like other obsessives, island maniacs enjoy getting together for mutual support, to swap island anecdotes and to exchange useful information, such as where to find a cheap island for sale. The latter is not all that easy: There are only about 8,000 private islands in the entire United States, roughly 10 times that number worldwide. Prices range from about $5,000 for an unimproved island off the misty shore of one of Canada`s maritime provinces to $6 million-plus for a tiny resort in the Caribbean.

Islands are far-flung, and so are the people who would visit and buy them. A unifying factor in this fragmented island world is Islands, accurately subtitled ``an international magazine.`` Published in Santa Barbara, Calif., Islands has a circulation of about 120,000 and readers in more than 20 countries.

A slick, glossy bimonthly magazine featuring gorgeous full-color photography, Islands features articles on noteworthy islands and islanders around the world and listings of island events from Australia to Zanzibar. Probably most read of all is a section titled ``island properties,`` devoted to islands for sale; each on-the-block isle is accompanied by a photograph and price tag.

``We`re devoted to exploring the fascination and mystique of islands,`` editor Nancy Zimmerman said, ``and our coverage isn`t just confined to stories on tropical islands; we`ve done articles on Iceland, Canadian islands and the island of Manhattan.``

The magazine sells for $3.95 a copy, and an annual subscription is $19.95. According to Zimmerman, the typical Islands subscriber is male, in his early 40s, has a median income of $78,000 a year, holds a valid passport and travels a lot.

One of the most enduring of folk legends is that of the ``Flyaway Isles,`` islands that are found in one place for a while, only to disappear suddenly and pop up somewhere else. Islands are, in fact, rather like that. During World War II, formerly obscure islands such as Guadalcanal and Kiska were constantly in the news, the fate of the Western world seeming to depend on who held them. Now, these islands are once more remote, forgotten and rarely visited; they have, in effect, flown away.